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CNN boss Mark Thompson says network faces ‘existential crisis,’ plans eventual switch away from cable TV (digital subscription)
NY Post ^ | 4/17/24 | Ariel Zilber

Posted on 04/18/2024 2:47:52 AM PDT by Libloather

CNN’s new boss said the network faces an “existential crisis” because of cord cutting — and that he plans to eventually pivot away from cable TV toward a subscription-based streaming model similar to YouTube and TikTok.

“There are plenty of things we have to fix at CNN,” Mark Thompson, the former New York Times and BBC executive who was hired by Warner Bros. Discovery to dig CNN out of its third-place slump in the cable news race, told Financial Times.

He also hinted that more cost-cutting measures are in the offing, saying that there are “likely to be significant opportunities for de-duplication of parallel organizations and structures and activities.”

“I think we can and should be looking for ways of doing what we do both better, but also doing it less expensively,” Thompson said.

The ex-BBC director general has a tall task — turning around CNN that has struggled to keep up in the ratings with Fox News and MSNBC.

Thompson said he was looking at distributing CNN content through smartphones and other devices in a shift to mostly digital — mimicking his tenure as head of The New York Times Company.

“The idea that there might be digital subscription is a serious possibility,” Thompson told FT when asked about his plans for CNN.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: cable; cnn; crisis; tv
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To: srmanuel

Any entity that has or makes a lot of money draws lefties like flies to honey. The lefties over time take control, use the money to advance the leftist agenda, and ultimately ruin the entity. This continues to play out ad infinitum. Shareholders seem to always stare in spellbound wonder as their ownership is flushed down the toilet.


21 posted on 04/18/2024 5:24:29 AM PDT by Rlsau1
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To: xp38

Right, didn’t they try this already?


22 posted on 04/18/2024 5:38:10 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative. )
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To: jmcenanly

One positive is CNN+ swallowed up Chris Wallace.


23 posted on 04/18/2024 5:56:48 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Libloather

If they can’t remain viable in cable, how do they expect to be as a fee service?

Cable is the best scam going. Get so much money per cable subscriber whether they ever watch your channel or not and get to sell adds too…

Fee for service streaming only get money from people who tune in.

Seems they learned nothing from the CNN+ fiasco


24 posted on 04/18/2024 6:06:03 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: KingLudd

Yup—there will be a huge demand of people who want to pay to be brainwashed by the Deep State.

The problem is that the brainwashing needs to be completed before the model can work.

;-)


25 posted on 04/18/2024 6:09:39 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: spincaster

40 Yrs


26 posted on 04/18/2024 6:12:00 AM PDT by WomBom ("I read Free Republic for the pictures)
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To: HamiltonJay

Hey at least they’re consistent in learning nothing.


27 posted on 04/18/2024 6:13:20 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Libloather

He hasn’t been paying attention to the Trump jury process. Not a single person said they get their news from CNN, not a one.

They did say NYTimes, Google and Tik Tok.


28 posted on 04/18/2024 6:15:07 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Libloather
"And where do people like that go, to share the big lie? MAGA media!"

- Jake Tapper

29 posted on 04/18/2024 6:17:07 AM PDT by OKSooner ("You won't like what comes after America." - Leonard Cohen.)
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To: Libloather

LOL! That’ll fix it!


30 posted on 04/18/2024 6:17:46 AM PDT by Democrat = party of treason
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To: Libloather
The fix is easy:

1. Tell the truth.

2. Abandon bias--especially woke/liberal/leftist bias.

3. Cease being a mouthpiece for Democrat Party propaganda.

4. Fire all employees who have done all of the above in the past.


31 posted on 04/18/2024 6:21:07 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Trump is a wise Kshatriya battling evil. Wise, benevolent Truth-seekers understand and support him.)
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To: Savage Beast
The fix is easy: 1. Tell the truth.

2. Abandon bias--especially woke/liberal/leftist bias.

3. Cease being a mouthpiece for Democrat Party propaganda.

4. Fire all employees who have done all of the above in the past.

Only a news/media/journalism outlet would do that. Don't be fooled, they are in reality a Leftist Activist Corporation.

32 posted on 04/18/2024 6:24:14 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: KingLudd

“I want to make sure I understand their new business model:

We can’t give it away free so now we’re going to start charging people.”

You missed the part about how those people who wouldn’t pay for the streaming service will now happily pay for a subscription.


33 posted on 04/18/2024 6:31:15 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Libloather

Digital subscription?

The kind you pay for?

CNN can NOT give their product away for free.

CNN is being semi-bundled with Max and has created zero value if not negative value for Max.

I surf You Tube.

I never click on Russell Brand but I always marvel at how many views he gets.

Put CNN on You Tube and it couldn’t get as many views as a nutcase like Russell Brand.

But the fact is as crazy as Russell Brand is, he is probably more in tune with reality than CNN who famously opined that a full-blown riot was a mostly peaceful protest.


34 posted on 04/18/2024 6:33:02 AM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: Libloather

The sad truth about today’s “news” consumers is that (aside from the bias), they don’t want to watch mashed potato personalities! The fix is not to now make them subscribe to watch mashed potatoes personalities!


35 posted on 04/18/2024 7:14:02 AM PDT by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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To: Libloather

My dad LOVED Bobbie Battista. My couldn’t get enough of her eyes!


36 posted on 04/18/2024 7:36:15 AM PDT by ducttape45 (Proverbs 14:34, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.")
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To: Libloather

Now we will have to pay to hear the lies, distortion, obsessions, and misinformation.


37 posted on 04/18/2024 7:49:46 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Libloather

But what will I do waiting at the airport?


38 posted on 04/18/2024 7:52:44 AM PDT by oldbill
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To: Gay State Conservative

bingo!

i wish more would do this

it is very effective

eventually the cable companies will have to offer a la carte programming to survive

no more subsidizing the LEFTIST media


39 posted on 04/18/2024 7:57:57 AM PDT by joshua c
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To: Libloather

““The idea that there might be digital subscription is a serious possibility,” Thompson told FT”

right, because CNN+ was such a resounding success, we’re gonna try that again, but this time we’re gonna put ALL our eggs in that basket by first shutting down CNN broadcast TV, because, hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, give up!


40 posted on 04/18/2024 9:06:53 AM PDT by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
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